The Latvian national team will play against Slovenia or Germany in the quarter-finals in Manila on Wednesday. The exact pairings of the first elimination round will be known later on Sunday after the conclusion of all group stage matches.
Latvian basketball players gained a decisive advantage in the fight for the quarter-finals in the productive third quarter, in which they scored 36 points and secured an 18-point lead. The winners made 16 of 33 three-point shots in the game.
Andrejs Gražulis stood out for the Latvian national team with 24 points, while Artūrs Žagars added 17 points.
The very active defense of the Latvian basketball players at the beginning of the game prevented the Brazilians from getting into shooting positions and the southerners made several mistakes. After a three-point shot by Žagar, the Latvians took the lead 9:3. As Latvia’s iron grip on defense loosened a little, the Brazilians were able to make shots from under the basket more freely, but Artūrs Kuruc’s three-pointer at the end of the first quarter made it possible to maintain the lead (22:20).
Excellent Latvians restarted the game, with a 10:2 breakthrough, strengthening their lead and achieving a 10-point lead (32:22). After a one-minute break, the Brazilian national team patched up the holes in the defense and started chasing, reducing the deficit to two points (32:34). As the effectiveness of the Latvian basketball players in the attack decreased, the Brazilians achieved a tie 40:40 with three-point shots. Also in the last minute of the half, a three-point shot, this time performed by Dāvja Bertāns, helped keep the lead (45:42).
Both teams were in the lead at the beginning of the third quarter, until Žagar regained the initiative for Latvia with two three-pointers, but Andrejas Gražul’s shot into the basket from above made it possible to reach +8 (57:49) in two and a half minutes. The Brazilians patiently ate up the deficit, but were unable to do anything against the accuracy of their rivals in three-point shots, and Latvia’s advantage continued to grow in the productive quarter.
The Latvians started the last quarter with an 18-point lead (81:63), but after Artūrs Kuruc’s three-pointer, they quickly reached +21 (84:63). The Brazilians’ efforts to save themselves lacked precision, moreover, the effective counterattack of the Latvian basketball players did not leave them any hope, and the teams only had to find out the final result.
Entering the quarter-finals allows the Latvian national team to continue the fight for an immediate ticket to the Paris Olympic Games.
Latvia is already guaranteed a place in the Olympic qualification, but two of the strongest European teams can be sure to start in Paris in 2024.
Participation in the quarterfinals of the World Cup was already certain before the last games in the group for the USA, Lithuania, Slovenia and Germany, which was joined first by the Italian team on Sunday with a 73:57 victory over Puerto Rico.
The winners of the Serbia-Dominican and Spain-Canada games will get two more tickets to the TOP8 on Sunday.
Entering the quarter-finals also means that the Latvian national team will in any case play until the end of the final tournament, as the teams that did not meet in the semi-finals will play games for lower places.
In the first group round, the Latvian national team defeated Lebanon and defeated the French national team, but lost to Canadian basketball players. On the other hand, the Latvians started the second round of the group with a victory over the current World Cup winners, the Spaniards.
Vote for the best basketball player in the Latvian national team in the game against Brazil
CONTEXT:
32 national teams are participating in the World Cup final tournament for the first time, and the Latvian national team is a debutant. Teams from four groups competed in the Philippines, while eight teams each competed in Japan and Indonesia. The final tournament will conclude with the final on September 10 in Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
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2023-09-03 11:33:33
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